Hawaii Warriors to join Mountain West for football in 2012

By Kevin Kelley -

The Hawaii Warriors will join the Mountain West Conference in football on July 1, 2012, the school announced today. All other Warrior sports will become a member of the Big West Conference.

Hawaii is the fourth school to leave the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) this year. Boise State will join the MWC in 2011, while Fresno State and Nevada will join in 2012.

In 2012, the new look MWC will feature the following teams: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV and Wyoming.

The WAC, on the other hand, will be down to seven teams. They recently added Texas State and UTSA, but the departure of Hawaii leaves the conference in a bind once more. Under NCAA rules, leagues must contain eight teams.